


Tender Curiosity

by Brumeier



Series: Bite Sized Fic 2020 [79]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Actors, Alternate Universe - 1920s, Attraction, Banter, Drinking, First Meetings, M/M, Post-Break Up, Prompt Fill, Speakeasies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:08:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26517205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: LJ Comment Fic for Masterpiece Theater prompt:Marvel Cinematic Universe, ensemble, 1920's speakeasy AUIn which Tony is drowning his sorrows at his friend's speakeasy, and meets someone who might just take his mind off Steve Rogers.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: Bite Sized Fic 2020 [79]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610332
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020





	Tender Curiosity

Tony brooded.

It wasn’t easy to do considering the festive air at Midnight in Paris. The band was playing a lively jazz tune, the illegal booze was flowing freely, and if Tony had shown the slightest bit of interest he’d have had his pick of any of the women present, regardless of whether or not they were already spoken for.

“You gotta be a wet blanket tonight?” Rhodey asked. “These people didn’t come to see morose Tony Stark.”

“I’m buying drinks, aren’t I?” Tony countered without any real heat. “Shut up.”

“Stark, you’re an actor. Can’t you at least fake being happy for a while?”

“No.”

The break-up with Steve hadn’t been unexpected, but Tony was taking it harder than he thought he would. Maybe because Steve hadn’t been with him on account of his Tinseltown fame. It had been both deeper and shallower than that. Complicated. That’s what it was. Complicated as hell.

Maybe he should’ve taken Steve to Venice instead of Oslo.

If Tony was going to be alone, he’d rather it be in a room full of people. Even if that room was in Rhodey’s stupidly named blind pig, which was full of flappers and jazz musicians and men who’d stripped down to their shirtsleeves to cut it up on the dance floor.

Tony tipped back his glass, finishing his drink. “Another,” he said.

“You looking to empty a whole bottle tonight?” Rhodey asked, even as he pulled out the champagne.

“I’m the one who supplies it,” Tony reminded him. “May as well enjoy it, too.”

Rhodey rolled his eyes. He poured the champagne, poured the orange juice, and garnished with an orange rind before setting it in front of Tony.

“What are you drinking?” asked the man who slid onto the stool next to Tony’s.

“I call it a Paris Sunrise,” Rhodey said.

“You’ve never even been to Paris,” Tony said, just to be contradictory.

“I’ll take one of those.” 

The man slapped some money on the bar, and Tony couldn’t help noticing the tremble in his hands. He was also wearing a high-end suit, blue with a bold herringbone pattern, and the money clip he’d pulled out of his pocket was gold with a sizeable emerald affixed to it.

“Little ostentatious for a blind pig, aren’t you?” Tony asked. “You a stoolie?”

“A surgeon, actually.”

“I played a surgeon once,” Tony remembered. “You ever see _Dr. Watson’s Secret_? I got a lot of good press from that one.”

“I don’t care for motion pictures,” the surgeon replied. He took a sip of his drink and made a face. “This is disgusting!”

Tony grinned. “More for me!” 

He picked up the man’s champagne flute and downed the fizzy drink all in one go, following it up with a modest belch.

“Real classy,” Rhodey said with a frown.

“I’ll take a Brandy Alexander, please.”

Tony studied his new drinking companion with renewed interest. He didn’t like movies, which meant he probably didn’t know how famous Tony was. And Tony’s wealth wouldn’t matter much to a man sporting decorative gemstones on something that spent most of the time unseen in his pocket. It was almost enough to make Tony regret the belch. Almost.

He wanted to ask about the shaky hands, and how a surgeon could be expected to slice people open with such a tremor, but he wasn’t quite drunk enough to cross that kind of line. Tony could see some scars, thought maybe –

“Car accident,” the man said. He took a sip of his Brandy Alexander and nodded appreciatively. 

“What’s that?”

“You were staring at my hands. I was in a car accident. No, I don’t operate anymore. I’m more of a consultant. Was there anything else you wanted to know?”

That recitation had come devoid of any emotion as far as Tony could tell. How often did people ask the shaky doctor about his injury? 

“I broke my pinky finger once,” Tony said, holding up the slightly bent appendage. “Stunt gone wrong. Hurt like a bastard.”

“Yes, I’m sure that was just the same as what I went through.”

The man’s lip twitched up in the briefest approximation of humor that Tony had ever seen. That was promising. 

“Do you have a name, ex-surgeon, or should I think one up? I’ve come up with some real zingers for my movies, you know.”

“Stephen.”

“Very respectable. I would’ve gone with something edgier. Julian, maybe. Or Vincent.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

“I’m Tony, by the way. Not that you asked, but it’s easier than thinking of me as ‘that handsome fellow with the luxurious hair’.”

Stephen looked away for a moment, and Tony was certain he was hiding a smile.

“And here I was thinking of you as a Royce.”

Tony snorted. “As in Rolls? No. No fancy names for me. What you see is what you get. Except when I’m acting. Which I usually am.”

Stephen turned, giving Tony a look at his full face for the first time. The man had striking features, all cheekbones and interestingly shaped lips and supercilious eyebrows.

“Are you acting right now?”

“Yes.”

“To what end?” Stephen asked.

“I’m drowning my sorrows. I’ve recently suffered a nearly debilitating heartbreak.” Tony polished off the other Paris Sunrise. “Rhodey told me to act happy or I’d scare all the guys and dolls away.”

That wasn’t entirely true, though, because Tony was feeling much better about his lot in life at the moment. Pepper had given him the whole spiel about fish in the sea, but apparently he’d needed visual reinforcement.

“Would you like to come and see the set for my new movie?” Tony asked. “It’s a pretty accurate dungeon setup.”

Stephen leaned in close, murmuring in Tony’s ear. “Not the ambience I was hoping for.”

Tony’s skin flushed so hot so fast he thought he might burst into flame.

“On the other hand, I have a magnificent mansion not far from here.”

He didn’t usually take people back to his house, not after just meeting them. But a high-end guy like Stephen would probably never get on his knees in an alley. No anonymous blow jobs, then. Tony was filled with anticipation and suddenly he couldn’t sit still.

“Rhodey! I have to see a man about a dog. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”

Rhodey just waved him away.

Tony followed Stephen out the side door, admiring the cut of his suit. Particularly in the rear. It wasn’t love at first sight – he didn’t believe in that smarmy garbage – but Tony _did_ feel a sort of tender curiosity.

He wondered if Stephen would look as good out of the suit as in it.

He was not disappointed.

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** Title from the following quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s _The Great Gatsby_ : “I wasn’t actually in love, but I felt a sort of tender curiosity.” Sharp eyes may note that the names Tony and Stephen think up for each other are names of other characters the actors have played. Just for funsies.
> 
> This is the first time I’ve written IronStrange, and I’ll admit that I’ve never seen _Doctor Strange_. Just his appearance in _Avengers: End Game_. But I do love me some Cumberbatch, and I couldn’t leave poor Tony wallowing in his heartache. It's also the first time I wrote Rhodey, so fingers crossed he came across okay.


End file.
